Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, backed
by Gov. John Kitzhaber and several industry and environmental figures, on
Tuesday unveiled a long-awaited bill laying out a new management plan for more
than 2 million acres of federal forests in western Oregon.

The Democratic senator, who
also chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said his bill
would "get people back to work in the woods" while still protecting forest
ecology.

"This new foundation will
more than double our timber harvest across 18 timber counties and ensure that
harvest continues for years to come," Wyden said in a press release in advance
of a 10 a.m. press conference in Kitzhaber's office. "It uses the best
available science to mimic natural processes and create healthier, more diverse
forests."

The measure essentially takes
a middle-ground approach between the current restrictions that have driven down
timber harvests on federal lands since 1990 and a House-passed bill that would
allow much of the land to be managed by the state primarily for timber
production.

Wyden and his aides have been
working for months to develop a bill for managing the old Oregon &
California Railroad trust lands, which once produced a wealthy timber economy
and a steady gusher of federal payments to 18 western Oregon counties.

Several of the counties are
now struggling economically and have cut their public services, to the point
that some no longer provide around-the-clock sheriff patrols.

At a meeting with The Oregonian's editorial board on Monday, Wyden brandished estimates
from the Bureau of Land Management saying that his bill could produce 300
million to 350 million board-feet of lumber a year for the next two decades,
compared to current harvests of about half that.

The House-passed bill – sponsored
by Democratic Reps. Peter DeFazio and Kurt Schrader and Republican Rep. Greg
Walden, all of Oregon – would result in an estimated harvest level of about 500
million board-feet per year.

Wyden's new plan relies
heavily on the work of forest scientists Jerry Franklin of the University of
Washington and K. Norman Johnson of Oregon State University. Both were key advisers in helping develop the
Northwest Forest Plan in the mid-1990s after spotted owl protections led to a
huge drop in logging on federal lands.

The two foresters, who have
been experimenting in southern Oregon on what they call "ecological forestry,"
applied their concepts to Wyden's bill.

The bill proposes that
old-growth forests be set aside from logging.
Younger forests would be selectively logged so about a third of the
trees remain and help knit the forest ecology back together as new trees grow.

Wyden's bill faced
considerable skepticism from some environmental groups worried that his bill could
undo the protections of the Northwest Forest Plan brokered by the Clinton
administration. And they're afraid it
will set a precedent for easing environmental laws on public lands in other
states.

Donald Barry, executive vice
president of Defenders of Wildlife, said he'll need to read the actual bill before
drawing a firm judgment.

"But what we know so far we
find pretty alarming," said Barry, adding that one of his concerns was language in
the bill that could curtail lawsuits against individual logging sales.

Under the Wyden measure,
officials would conduct environmental impact statements for wet and dry-side
forests in which all sides could fight over.

After they are approved,
however, litigation would be barred against timber sales that follow the parameters of those environmental plans.

Wyden said he is preserving
the nation's major environmental laws, such as the Endangered Species Act. He said, however, that he wants to provide
certainty so that communities and the industry can count on a certain harvest
level.

He also expressed confidence
that he can persuade his fellow senators that they can't win the president's
signature on a bill that rolls back environmental protections around the
country.

Wyden has picked up allies
who argue that his approach is the only one that can become law.

Lane County Commissioner Sid
Leiken, a Republican who endorsed the bill, said that the Obama administration
has made it clear the president will veto the House-passed bill.

"This is the bill that is the
most politically viable to work from," said Leiken.

Wyden also claimed an
endorsement from Andrew Miller, the president of Stimson Lumber and a major
donor to Republican causes. At the same
time, officials from the Pacific Rivers Council and the Wild Salmon Center also
offered praise for the legislation.

The senator said he also
wants to begin work next year on separate legislation revamping aid to
timber-dependent counties.

"We've got to get off the
roller coaster," he said, referring to the repeated fights over whether
Congress will continue providing county timber payments.